I hated this ridiculous situation too, until I realized that there are benefits. I get to try out a printer for 6 months to see if I am happy with it, and the ability to buy a colour laser printer for just a few hundred dollars is amazing (to me).
When the toner runs out, if I'm happy with the printer then it's time to do the maths. If the original printer cost me $300, but the new toner will last 4 times as long then it is worth buying the toner for $1100 or less (I would not pay $1200 because although the cost is the same, I would rather have the new equipment - hence the $100 discount factor). Otherwise get a new short-term printer. Either way, don't throw the printer into the bay. Fish hate printers - the paper is always getting soggy. Cheers Dave On Fri, May 14, 2010 at 10:28 AM, Greg Keogh <[email protected]> wrote: > Friday fun ... our Lexmark C524DN printer beeps this morning and tells us > that the Magenta toner is low. These are colour “starter” cartridges in a 6 > month old printer, so I expect the other two to go soon. > > > > Web searches show the average cost of high-yield colour cartridges to be > about $260-$330. The bloke in my local printer shop has confirmed that he > can’t get much cheaper than that. He said his previous attempts to refill > these brands were not successful and he’s abandoned working on them. He > thinks there might be other shops who have refilled them successfully and > suggests I ring around. > > > > So, thanks to the evil international conspiracy of printer manufacturer > cartels, the cost of replacing the colours will be more than the original > price of the printer. > > > > Do I dump this 40kg monster in the bay and buy a new one, or is there are > way of getting the colours refilled or replaced for a “reasonable” price? > I’m in the Melbourne south east suburbs if anyone has suggestions about > where to look, or perhaps where the best AU online bargains are. I continue > to ring shops and web search... > > > > Greg > > > > Ps. Imagine buying a $40,000 car with half a tank of petrol. You have fun > driving it for a few weeks before the fuel light flashes. Then you find a > full tank of petrol costs $55,000. What do you do? > > >
